


i was made for loving you

by SofieChappell



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Introspection, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 01:47:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SofieChappell/pseuds/SofieChappell
Summary: “More like medium-rare.”Well, as far as soulmates' marks go, this was… weird.





	i was made for loving you

**Magnus**

_ “Well done.” _

What kind of soulmark even  _ is  _ this?

At first, it was weird. Those unfamiliar shapes in a simple, practical script right on his wrist. They didn't look like any of the words he was used to seeing on signs around his hometown. 

He was a teenager when he found out that the words were in English. God, a teenager. It's weird to think he was a teenager once. When he learnt what they meant, he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. They seemed too ordinary. Too meaningless. The simplest, most generic, practically offhand compliment. Nothing that would make a good turning point in one of those dramatic romance novels everybody seemed to love so much.

At least, he figured, it probably meant he would meet his soulmate soon.

It has gotten almost ridiculous after about a century. Given how many people he came in contact with, how often he had to fight, or conjure, or perform magic in front of people, and how  _ ordinary  _ the phrase was, it should have been someone's first words to him by now. Sometimes it felt as if people went to unbelievable degrees only to not make these the first word they said to him; as if they were temporarily unable to say those two simple words until they said anything else.

That's why he was so hooked on Camille for so long. He might not have felt the pull people were always talking about and in all honesty, she had actually said: “That's, well, done”, but he was so anxious to finally, finally have a soulmate that he was prepared to accept that. It's not like this whole thing was an exact science, he thought. 

Oh, how wrong he was. 

He loved her, heart and soul, for decades. She let him believe they were soulmates, for decades. His heart still felt like it was breaking all over again when he recalled her cold laughter when she told him she was markless, that love wasn’t for the Downworlders, especially not the immortal ones. 

After that, he has given up. He found a way to glamour the mark, because the sight of it was enough to bring too many painful memories. He forced himself to keep his feeling on the shortest leash possible. He flirted, and he laughed, and he took people to his bed, but everything was over by the first light of the morning.

He was immune. He was powerful, he was immortal, and he was above some silly notion of soulmates.

* * *

**Alec**

_ “More like medium-rare.” _

Well, as far as soulmates' marks go, this was…  _ weird. _

Was he supposed to fall in love with a waiter like in one of those rom-coms Jace and Izzy love so much? That would be just his luck, really, because he could count on one hand the times he was in a restaurant and every single time it was a family outing with his parents. That would be several different shocks for them all at the same time. He might be wrong, but he’s pretty sure no Shadowhunters wait tables, so a mundane boy being Alec Lightwood’s soulmate… He could see the absolute horror on his mother’s face whenever he thought about that happening.

In a way, it was comforting. He knew Jace’s mark and Jace knew his; and while Alec might not remember their first meeting in too much detail, he was sure neither of them said those things then. That in turn meant that no matter how strong and how true it felt, what he had for Jace was just an infatuation. An unfortunate, wrong, and dangerous one, but only a fleeting infatuation nonetheless. 

Moreover, that meant that there was someone out there for him. 

Not that Alec would get to have that. Unless by some cosmic joke his soulmate was female, there was no way the Clave or his parents would accept it. Not when he could marry a respectable Shadowhunter girl and make a bunch of heirs to the Lightwood name.

He never asked his parents if they were soulmates. Not that he could remember. 

Sometimes, when he looked at them, he wondered which version of events made him sadder. If they weren’t soulmates, that meant they only married for politics and both had to live with that somehow. Alec often wondered how would that feel. Waking up next to your spouse, knowing there was someone else out there for them. That you made each other miserable, that you both decided to consider yourselves to be above fate. That you denied happiness to each other and another pair of strangers. 

Or not strangers, perhaps. Maybe you know your partner’s soulmate. Maybe you had to walk past them whenever you visited Idris. Maybe they were a part of your own Institute. Maybe you had to look at them in the meetings and couldn’t help but wonder if there’s something more between them and your spouse.

However, if they were soulmates… Then Alec couldn’t comprehend why people even bothered. He knew they kept themselves civil both for their kids’ sake as well as their public image’s, but he was no longer a naive child. He knew they drifted away. He knew they fought more often than not, even if he didn’t know about what exactly. He hasn’t seen them doing things for fun together for many, many years. Sometimes he wondered if he has ever actually saw them doing something for fun. 

Theoretically they could both be markless, but that was rare, rarer even among Nephilim, so closely tied to the forces of fate. 

He didn’t let himself entertain the idea of a soulmate often. He threw himself into his job, the trainings, the missions, day after day, after day. He worked until he was way too exhausted to do anything but fall asleep the moment he fell onto his bed.

He didn’t have time to dream about how amazing waking up in his soulmate’s arm could be.

* * *

**Malec**

Ever since he woke up that day, not long before the sunrise, Alec felt antsy. It was almost like an itch that he couldn't locate, seemingly anywhere and nowhere on his body. It kept him on edge during the morning briefing and all the way through their truly ridiculous mission.

That was definitely what his outburst after the warlock got away was all about. He was just having a bad day and he didn’t keep his temper in check. There was no nagging feeling, no strange pull inside him to follow the warlock at all costs. That would be weird. It was just another stressful day of even more stressful month.

He felt his head was starting to clear the moment he fired his arrow at the Circle member attacking the warlock, giving the man time to finish the job in a spectacular show of magic. The way he moved was mesmerizing, showing his complete control over the enormous power hidden within him.

“Well done.” The words left his mouth almost unconsciously. If he had time to think, he would scold himself for such a weak choice of phrase to describe what he thought of this fight.

“More like medium-rare.”

Alec’s breath hitched. It wasn't… It  _ couldn't  _ be…

He saw the warlock tense where he stood, almost as if he was delaying the moment when he would have to turn around. 

Did he feel that too? Because right now Alec’s wrist was pulsing with warmth that seemed to make his blood run faster, making his body feel more alive than ever. There was no mistaking it.

Is this why he didn't want to turn around? 

It wouldn't be a surprise that his soulmate would reject him. That would make perfect sense, all things considered. And since it turned out his soulmate was all-powerful, centuries-old High Warlock, it not only made sense, it seemed like the only reasonable turn of events. 

Alec could have sworn the whole world slowed down as the man turned on his heel to face him. He was brilliant, luminous. The pictures in the Institute’s file didn’t even come close to capturing him. And he was smiling. At Alec.

“I’m Magnus, I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced.” His smile was almost blinding. His gorgeous, dark eyes were shining.

Alec mumbled his name, at least he hoped it was his name. He couldn’t stop staring at this breathtaking, extraordinary man. His soulmate. His most improbable, inappropriate, impossible soulmate.

And for a moment, he let himself hope.

**Author's Note:**

> unbeta'd  
> follow me on tumblr @[sofiechappell](http://sofiechappell.tumblr.com)


End file.
